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MEMORIAL 

OF THE i*V3 



MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL 

OF BALTIJiOEE, 



WITH ACCOMPANYING DOCUiMENTS. 



BALTIMORE: , 

WM. M. INNES, City Printer 
3d, 4th & 5th Floors Adams Express Building. 



1861. 



Fl8<| 



MEMORIAL. 



To the Honorable the Senate and 

House of Representatives of the United States : 

The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore respectfully present 
this their memorial : 

The recent suspension of the functions of the Board of Police 
of this city, makes it the duty of your memorialists to call your 
attention to certain consequences of that action which affect 
every citizen in this community. The memorial of the Board 
of Police already presented to your Honorable Bodies, has given 
you full information of the nature and extent of their powers. 
A brief reference to certain leading features of the law of Mary- 
land under which they hold office, and with whose execution 
they are charged, will enable you to appreciate the embarrass- 
ments which now affect the due administration of the Govern- 
ment of Baltimore. The Board of Police is, under the laws of 
Maryland, the sole Police authority of the city. It alone is 
competent to provide for the preservation of peace and order 
within our limits; to appoint subordinate police officers, to ap- 
point judges of elections and provide for the execution of the 
laws regulating elections, to enforce all ordinances of the Mayor 
and City Council of Baltimore for the preservation of health 
and the maintenance of peace and order. By other provisions 
of the laws for the Police government of this city, the organi- 
zation of any permanent police force other than that organized 
by and acting under the orders of the Board of Police, is dis- 
tinctly prohibited. 



4 



To the due execution of the laws of their State for their local 
government, hy legally constituted officers, the free citizens of 
Baltimore have an unquestioned constitutional right. The 
manner in which that right has been respected will appear from 
the facts which we now recite : 

The Major General commanding in the military department 
of which this city forms a part, issued a proclamation dated 
June 27th, announcing the arrest of the Marshal of Police. — 
With professions of respect for every municipal regulation and 
public statute, the proclamation further announces to the public 
that the official authority of the Marshal of Police and the 
Board of Police is superseded, and a "Provost Marshal," an 
officer unknown to the civil law of Maryland, is appointed. — 
No charge is preferred against the members of the Board of Po- 
lice, nor is any reason assigned for superseding them and de- 
priving the citizens of Baltimore of their only legal Police au- 
thority. 

The Board of Police, yielding to the force which prevented 
their execution of the laws of this State, submitted to the prac- 
tical suspension of their functions, and neither offered nor per- 
mitted any resistance to such action as the General in command 
saw fit to adopt. 

The Provost Marshal appointed by the General in command 
to execute the police laws of Maryland for the government of 
the city of Baltimore, took possession of the offices belonging 
to the city, and removed certain officials not appointed by the 
Board but by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, appoint- 
ing others in their place. 

The memorial of the Board of Police has presented at length 
the considerations of official duty which made it impossible for 
them either themselves to aid, or to permit the officers under 
their command to aid in violations of the law under which they 
hold office. A comparison of the reasons assigned by them, 
with the provisions of the police law, to which they direct your 
attention, will prove the correctness of their conclusions. Under 
date of July 1st appeared a third proclamation of the General 
in command, announcing the arrest of the members of the 
Board of Police. Again disclaiming for those under whose au- 



5 



thority "he acts, any intention to interfere with the municipal 
affairs of Baltimore, he assigns certain reasons for the summary 
an est of these gentlemen, whom without complaint on oath or 
civil process he arrested, and now holds in custody. Examined 
in connection with the law under which they were appointed, 
the pretended offences charged against them, amount together 
to the simple performance of their official duty. Had they 
aided or acquiesced in the establishment of any police authority 
other than their own, they would have plainly violated the law 
under which they hold office. 

By a fourth proclamation, dated July 10th, the Major-Gene- 
ral in command informs the public that he has removed the 
"provost marshal," and has appointed a "marshal of police/' 
"in all respects to administer every department of the police 
law in full freedom for the peace and prosperity of the city, and 
the honor and perpetuity of the United States." This officer 
now affects to administer the law for the police government of 
Baltimore, by means of a force organized under and acting by 
his direction. 

Whatever professions of regard for our laws accompany these 
transactions, the facts are too plain to be concealed. The local 
laws of the State of Maryland, for the police government of the 
city of Baltimore, to which all officers of the federal govern- 
ment are bound to yield obedience within our limits, have been 
set aside. The only officers competent to administer those laws 
have been superseded, and then imprisoned. The General in 
command, professing to act under instructions from the federal 
government, has marched large bodies of armed men into the 
city, planted cannon in the principal streets and public squares, 
and, by the law and authority of superior force, has established 
the present acting police force, has enabled its officers to take 
possession of the offices and buildings belonging to the city of 
Baltimore, to eject officers appointed by the Mayor and City 
Council, and to assume the function of executing laws whose 
fundamental provisions they daily violate by the exercise of po- 
lice authority. Your memorialists need not dwell on the em- 
barrassments which must certainly result from thus disorgani- 
zing the civil government of a city, nor on the sense of inse- 



6 



curity, which affects citizens who reflect that the present police 
acts without legal warrant or authority. A community thus 
deprived of its lawful government is entitled to demand that those 
who assume so grave a responsibility shall furnish some sufficient 
reason for their action. It is impossible to believe that the fed- 
eral authorities have wantonly disturbed the peace and good 
government of the city. No doubt statements have been made 
to which credit has been given, and on the faith of which the 
government has acted. The proclamation of the General in 
command, issued immediately after the arrest of the members of 
the Board of Police, vaguely charges that the Board "hold, 
subject to their orders, now and hereafter, the old police force, 
a large body of armed men for some purpose unknown to the 
government, and inconsistent with its peace and security." 
Your memorialists are left in doubt as to the precise nature of 
the purpose referred to, but the suspension of their authority, 
and the subsequent imprisonment of the Board of Police, seems 
to have been the result of a belief that their authority would be 
used to the injury of the government of the United States. 

That this opinion has any foundation in facts, your memorial- 
ists deny, and appeal to the history of the official acts of the 
Police authority of this city. 

For a detailed account of the unhappy occurrences of the 19th 
April, you are referred to the statement of the Mayor of the 
city, which is herewith submitted. No evidence of failure of 
duty on the part of the police authority on that day can be pro- 
duced. The Mayor ex-efficio a member of the Board, shared 
the dangers to which the troops were exposed, and both he and 
the Marshal of Police risked their lives for their protection. — 
The great excitement which ensued, and which was intensified 
by the wanton killing of a citizen, at a distance from the scene 
of the riot, and who was shot from the window of the cars as 
the train passed out of the city, was represented to the Presi- 
dent by the Mayor of the city. The President and his cabinet 
recognized the necessity of temporarily avoiding a passage 
through Baltimore, and gave repeated assurances that troops 
should not be brought through the city. Unauthorized persons 
declaring openly their intention to cut their way through Balti- 



1 



more with or without the orders of the government; the author- 
ities of Baltimore, as well the Police Board as your me- 
morialists, called their people to arms, procured such weapons 
as could be hastily gathered, and did all in their power to pro- 
vide for the defence of their city from the threatened danger. — 
This they did and this they justify. In the then excited condi- 
tion of the people, a portion of our population may have en- 
tertained designs of active hostility to the government. If such 
designs existed, they were frustrated by the precautions of the 
Board of Police. Fort McHenry, believed to be without either 
a sufficient garrison or armament, was nightly guarded by the 
military of the city, acting under the orders of the Board of 
Police. Other government property received especial protection. 
Arms supposed to belong to the United States and found in the 
hands of individuals were taken possession of and preserved by 
the Board of Police, who gave notice to the government agents 
of their action. The persons and property of all citizens re- 
ceived equal and efficient protection. Whatever charges malice 
may suggest, the preservation of peace in the city, the preven- 
tion of conflict between citizens divided in opinion, the protec- 
tion of life, limb and property, during a period of great popu- 
lar excitement, is a monument to the zeal and good faith of our 
police authorities. When there no longer seemed any necessity 
for a military array, the arms placed in the hands of the people 
were recalled, and the city resumed its ordinary condition of 
quiet. So Baltimore remained until May 14th, when it being 
ascertained that the people were disarmed, and that the move- 
ment could be made without serious danger, the General then 
in command in this department occupied a portion of the city 
with certain troops under his command. His arrival was an- 
nounced by proclamation, and in the afternoon of May 14th he 
sent a detachment of troops into the city, who seized and car- 
ried off arms belonging to and in the custody of the authorities 
of the city of Baltimore. No resistance was offered or permitted 
by the authorities of the city. Two of our citizens, one of them 
a member of the Legislature of Maryland, were by the orders 
of the same military officer summarily arrested, and after an 
imprisonment of a few days, were released because their existed 
no sufficient cause for either arrest or detention. 



8 



Since the middle of May, many thousand United States sold- 
iers have passed through this city. There has heen no single 
instance of opposition to their progress, nor any failure on the 
part of the city authorities to take proper precautions for their 
protection as well as for preserving the peace of the city. The 
Courts of the United States are and have heen unimpeded in 
the performance of their duties, save when in a memorable in- 
stance, the Marshal of the United States was not permit- 
ted to enter Fort McHenry, or to serve process issued by the 
highest judicial officer of the United States. The order of the 
city has been preserved. No resistance of any kind has been 
made, even to illegal and unconstitutional acts of military offi- 
cers. No arrest that has been made by mere military authority, 
but that could have been made by civil officers. Thus without 
the existence of a single fact to justify an appeal to a supposed 
authority growing out of military necessity, citizens have been 
seized and imprisoned, their homes invaded and searched with- 
out warrant, or complaint, on oath, as required by law. The 
protection afforded by constitutional guarantees of the liberty of 
the citizen and constitutional restraints imposed on the power 
of the executive, has been denied. Obedience to the Courts is 
refused when they interfere for the protection of the citizen. 
Arms belonging to the city of Baltimore and rightfully in the 
custody of its authorities have been taken. The buildings of 
the city have been given into the custody of officers not known 
to its laws. Its Court House has been occupied by troops. Its 
civil authority has been disregarded, and a revolutionary gov- 
ernment established by mere force of arms and against law. 

Against these manifold wrongs your memorialists for them- 
selves and the free community which they represent do most 
solemnly protest. The State of Maryland has been and is sub- 
ject to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and her 
citizens are of right entitled to the protection of that Constitu- 
tion and of those laws. The civil authorities of this city have 
heretofore and do now render fitting obedience to the require- 
ments of both. If disaffection is believed to exist, from which 
danger is apprehended, the guns of Fort McHenry turned on 
the homes of the women and children of an unarmed City — the 



9 



Federal troops encamped around its limits would seem an ade- 
quate protection to the Government. Whether that disaffection 
is weakened by depriving a whole community of the protection 
of its laws, — whether the risk of disorder is diminished by es- 
tablishing a police government which fails to command the re- 
spect accorded to undoubted lawful authority, you, in your wis- 
dom, will determine. 

But your memorialists respectfully, yet most earnestly de- 
mand, as matter of right, that their city may be governed ac- 
cording to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and, 
of the State of Maryland. They demand, as matter of right, 
that citizens may be secure in their persons, houses, papers and 
effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, and that they 
be not deprived of life, libert}^, or property, without due process 
of law. They demand, as matter of right, that the military 
render obedience to the civil authority, that our municipal laws 
be respected, that officers be released from imprisonment, and 
restored to the lawful exercise of their functions, that the police 
government established by law, be no longer impeded by armed 
force to the injury of peace and order. 

These, their rightful demands, your memorialists submit for 
the consideration of your honorable bodies. 



MAYOR'S MESSAGE. 



To the Honorable the Member* of the 

First and Second Branches of the City Council: 

Gentlemen : 

A great object of the Reform movement was to separate 
municipal affairs entirely from national politics, and in accord- 
ance with this principle, I have heretofore, in all my commu- 
nications to the City Council, carefully refrained from any 
allusion to national affairs. I shall not now depart from this 
rule further than is rendered absolutely necessary by the un- 
precedented condition of things at present existing in this 
city. 

On the 19th of April last an attack was made by a mob in 
the streets of Baltimore on several companies of a regiment of 
Massachusetts troops, who were on their way to the city of 
Washington in pursuance of a call for 75,000 men made by 
the President of the United States. 

On the day previous, troops had been safely passed through 
the city under the escort of the police. In the afternoon of the 
same day (18th,) the regiments from Massachusetts were ex- 
pected, and provision was made by the police for their recep- 
tion, but they did not arrive, and the Board of Police could 
not ascertain when they would come, although two of the 
members of the Board went in person to the station of the 
Philadelphia Railroad Company to obtain the necessary infor- 
mation. On the morning of the 19th, about ten o'clock, I was 
at my law office engaged in the performance of professional 
business, when three members of the City Council came to me 
with a message from Marshal Kane to the effect that he had 



12 



just learned that the troops were about to arrive, and that he 
apprehended some disturbance. I immediately hastened to 
the office of the Board of Police and gave notice. George M. 
Gill, Esq., Counsellor of the city, and myself, got into a car- 
riage and drove rapidly to the Camden station, and the Police 
Commissioners followed without delay. On reaching Camden 
station we found Marshal Kane in attendance and the police 
coming in squads to the spot. The plan of the agents of the 
Railroad Companies was that the troops which were to arrive 
in the cars at the President street station, should in the same 
way be conveyed through the city, and be transferred to the 
cars for Washington at the Camden street station. Accord- 
ingly the police were requested by the agent of the road to be 
in attendance at the latter station. After considerable delay, 
the troops began to arrive and were transferred under the direc- 
tion of the police to the Washington cars as rapidly as possible. 
There was a good deal of excitement, and a large and angry 
crowd assembled, but the transfer was safely effected. No one 
could tell whether more troops were expected or not. At this 
time an alarm was given that a mob was about to tear up the 
rails in advance of the train on the Washington road, and 
Marshal Kane ordered some of his men to go out the road as 
far as the Relay House, if necessary, to protect the track. 
Soon afterwards, and when I was about to leave the station, 
supposing all danger to be over, news was brought to Com- 
missioner Davis and myself, who were standing together, that 
other troops were left at the President street station, and that 
the mob was tearing up the track on Pratt street. Mr. Davis 
immediately ran to summon a body of police to be sent to Pratt 
street, while I hastened alone down Pratt street, towards Pre- 
sident street station. On arriving at the head of Smith's 
wharf I found that anchors had been piled on the track, so as 
to obstruct it, and Sergeant McComas, and a few policemen 
who were with him, were not allowed by the mob to remove 
the obstruction. I at once ordered the anchors to be removed, 
and my authority was not resisted. On approaching Pratt 
street bridge I saw several companies of Massachusetts troops, 
who had left the cars, moving in column rapidly towards me. 



13 



An attack on them had "begun, and the noise and excitement 
were great. I ran at once to the head of the column — some 
persons in the crowd shouting as I approached, "Here comes 
the Mayor." I shook hands with the officer in command, 
saying as I did so, "lam the Mayor of Baltimore." I then placed 
myself hy his side and marched with him, as far as the head 
of Light street wharf, doing what I could hy my presence and 
personal efforts to allay the tumult. The moh grew holder, 
and the attack became more violent. Various persons were 
killed and wounded on both sides. The troops had sometime 
previously begun to fire in self defence ; and the firing as the 
attack increased in violence, became more general. 

At last when I found that my presence was of no use, either 
in preventing the contest or saving life, I left the head of the 
column, but immediately after I did so Marshal Kane, with 
about fifty policemen from the direction of the Camden station, 
rushed to the rear of the troops, forming a line across the 
street, and with drawn revolvers checking and keeping off the 
mob. The movement, which I saw myself, was perfectly suc- 
cessful, and gallantly performed. 1 submit herewith Marshal 
Kane's account of the affair, published on the 4th of May 
last, which substantially agrees with my own. 

It is doing bare justice to say that the Board of Police, the 
Marshal of Police, and the men under his command, exerted 
themselves bravely, efficiently, skillfully and in good faith to 
preserve the peace and protect life. If proper notice had been 
given of the arrival of the troops, and of the number expected, 
the outbreak might have been prevented entirely, and but for 
the timely arrival of Marshal Kane with his force, as I have de- 
scribed, the bloodshed would have been great. The wounded 
among the troops received the best care and medical attention, 
at the expense of the city, and the bodies of the killed were 
carefully and respectfully returned to their friends. The facts 
which I witnessed myself, and all that I have since heard, sat- 
isfy me that the attack was the result of a sudden impulse, and 
not of a premeditated scheme. 

But the effect on our citizens was, for a time, uncontrollable. 
In the intense excitement which ensued, which lasted for many 



14 



days, and which was shared by men of all parties, and by our 
volunteer soldiers, as well as citizens, it would have been im- 
possible to convey more troops from the North through the eity 
without a severe fight and bloodshed. Such an occurrence 
would have been fatal to the city, and accordingly, to prevent 
it, the bridges on the Northern Central Eailroad, and on the 
Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Eailroad, were, with 
the consent of the Governor, and by my order, with the co-ope- 
ration of the Board of Police, (except Mr. Chas. D. Hinks, who 
was absent from the city,) partially disabled and burned, so as 
to prevent the immediate approach of troops to the city, but 
with no purpose of hostility to the Federal Government. This 
act, with the motive which prompted it, has been reported by 
the Board of Police to the Legislature of the State, and ap- 
proved by that body, and was also immediately communicated 
by me, in person, to the President of the United States and his 
Cabinet. I inclose a copy of the report made by the Board of 
Police to the Legislature on the third of May last. On the 
evening of 19th of April, a portion of the military of the city 
were called out. On the 20th of April, your honorable body 
by a unanimous vote, placed at my disposal the sum of $500,- 
000 for the defence of the city, and the banks, with great 
patriotism and unanimity, voluntarily offered to advance the 
money through a committee of their Presidents, consisting of 
Messrs. Columbus O'Donnell, Johns Hopkins, and John Clark, 
who notified me, in person, of the fact on the morning of the 
20th of April at the Mayor's office. A number of citizens, in 
all the wards, volunteered for the purpose of defence, and were 
enrolled under the direction of the Board of Police : and for 
their use arms were partially provided. The Commander-in- 
Chief of the forces of the United States, with the approbation 
of the President, in view of the condition of affairs then ex- 
isting in the city, on the earnest application of the Governor 
of the State, of prominent citizens and myself, ordered that 
thereafter the troops should not be brought through Baltimore, 
and they wore accordingly transported to Washington by way 
of Annapolis. 



15 



But great danger existed to Baltimore from large bodies of 
unauthorized men at the North, who threatened to cut their 
way through the city, and visit upon it terrible vengeance for 
the acts of the 19th of April. 

As soon as this clanger had passed away, and the excitement 
among our own citizens had sufficiently subsided, the military 
were dismissed, and the citizens who enrolled were disbanded 
by order of the Board of Police. The peace of the city had 
been preserved, and its safety and the persons and property of 
men of all parties, protected under the circumstances of great 
peril, and the most intense excitement, and it was hoped that 
affairs would be allowed to return as nearly as possible to their 
previous condition. To this end my efforts, and those of the 
Board were devoted. Large bodies of troops from the North 
have ever since passed through the city without molestation, 
and every proper precaution to accomplish that object was taken 
by the Board of Police and carried out by the force. 

But civil war had begun on the immediate border of our 
State. A great division of opinion in regard to it existed 
among the people, and the events which had occurred in the 
city, and their consequences, seem to have made an indelible 
impression on the minds of the authorities at Washington, 
that the police force of the City of Baltimore was prepared to 
engage in hostility against the General Government whenever 
an opportunity should occur. 

The result has been very unfortunate. On the ground of mil- 
itary necessity, of the existence of which, and of the measures 
required of it, the Federal officers claim to be the sole judges, 
our city has been occupied by large bodies of troops in its cen- 
tral points ; picket guards have been stationed along many of 
our streets ; the arms provided by the city for its defense and 
those left by private individuals with the authorities for safe- 
keeping, the station-houses and other property of the city have 
been seized, operators in xhe Police and Fire Alarm Telegraph 
Office have been displaced and others substituted in their stead ; 
the Marshal of Police and Board of Police, with the exception 
of myself, have been arrested and are now imprisoned in Fort 
McHenry, one only, who is in bad health, has been released 



on his parole ; the writ of habeas corpus has "been suspended ; 
the police force, established under a law of the State, has been 
set aside by superseding the only power which could lawfully 
control it ; a new police, without authority of law, has been es- 
tablished under the control of a Marshal appointed by the com- 
manding General, and all power to hold elections in the city 
has been for the present set aside by suspending the functions of 
the Board under which alone elections can lawfully be held. 

The grounds taken by Major General Banks as a justification 
for these proceedings, and the position assumed by the Board of 
Police, respectively, will be found in the proclamations of the 
General and the protest of the Board, which I enclose. 

The hidden deposits of arms and ammunition referred to in 
the proclamation of June 27th, are, I suppose, those found in 
the City Hall, in reference to which a few words of explanation 
may be made. The arms consisted in part of muskets, which 
belonged to the old police established under the administration 
of Mr. Swann ; of revolvers procured for the police, and of some 
rifles, carbines, &c, lately procured in part for the use of the 
police and in part for the defense of the city. The Board of 
Police considered it proper that there should be a sufficient num- 
ber of efficient weapons to arm the entire police force in case of 
an emergency. There were not enough at the City Hall for 
that purpose. An allegation has been made that some of the 
arms and ammunition belonged to the Massachusetts troops ; 
but I am informed that this is not the case, except perhaps as to 
two muskets which were taken by the police from the hands of 
the mob. The ammunition at the Hall which was purchased 
for the defence of the city, was more than was entirely safe. 
Of this I was well aware, and should have ordered it to be re- 
moved if the city had had any proper of place of deposit ; but I 
apprehended that any attempt at removal at this time would 
only lead to a seizure on the part of the officers of the General 
Government, and to unfounded rumors and suspicions ; for all 
the rest of the arms and ammunition belonging to the city, and 
all the arms left with the city authorities for safe keeping, 
which were placed in depositories procured expressly for the 
purpose, and in no way concealed, had been previously seized by 



17 

the authorities of the United States, under circumstances very 
mortifying to the pride of the people. That some of the arms 
and ammunition were concealed about the building, is sufficient- 
ly explained by the fact that the officers in charge desired to 
secure them from seizure, but such concealment was made with- 
out my knowledge. 

The proclamation charges the existence of unlawful combina- 
tions of men organized for the resistance to the laws, for accu- 
mulating hidden deposits of arms, and encouraging contraband 
trade. 

Although I am only ex-officio member of the Board, and by 
reason of other engagements not able to be present at all their 
meetings, yet, from the free and full interchange of views among 
us, and the custom of the members to consult me on all import- 
ant questions, and my knowledge of all their proceedings, I feel 
that I have a right to say, of my own personal knowledge, that 
the Board had no notice or information of any such combina- 
tions, if any such existed, which I have no reason to suspect. 

Indeed, my experience of the fidelity of the Board, to its legal 
obligations during my whole official connection with it, and the 
common understanding between myself and my colleagues as to 
our course of duty since the present troubles began, justify me 
in saying that if any organization in this city for resistance to 
the laws could have been discovered by proper vigilance, they 
would have been found out and suppressed, to the extent of the 
powers conferred on the Board by law. 

After the Board of Police had been superseded and its mem- 
bers arrested by the order of Gen. Banks, I proposed, in order 
to relieve the serious complication which had arisen, to proceed 
as the only member left free to act, to exercise the power of the 
Board as far as an individual member could do so. Marshal 
Kane, while he objected to the propriety of this course, was 
prepared to place his resignation in my hands whenever I 
should request it, and the majority of the Board interposed no 
objection to my pursuing such course as I might deem it right 
and proper to adopt in view of the existing circumstances, and 
upon my own responsibility, until the Board should be enabled 
to resume the exercise of its functions. 



-a 



18 

If this arrangement could have been effected, it would have 
continued in the exercise of their duties the police force which 
is lawfully enrolled, and which has won the confidence and 
applause of all good citizens by its fidelity and impartiality at 
all times and under all circumstances. But the arrangement 
was not satisfactory to the Federal authorities. 

As the men of the police force through no fault of theirs are 
now prevented from discharging their duty, their pay consti- 
tutes a legal claim on the city, from which, in my opinion, it 
cannot be relieved. 

The new force which has been enrolled is in direct violation 
of the law of the State, and no money can be appropriated by 
the city for its support without incurring the heavy penalties 
j)rovided by the Act of Assembly. 

Officers in the Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph Department, 
who are appointed by the Mayor and City Council, and not by 
the Board of Police, have been discharged, and others have 
been substituted in their place. 

I mention these facts with profound sorrow and with no pur- 
pose whatever of increasing the difficulties unfortunately exist- 
ing in this city, but because it is your right to be acquainted 
with the true condition of affairs, and because I cannot help 
entertaining the hope that redress will yet be afforded by the 
authorities of the United States upon a proper representation 
made by you. I am entirely satisfied that the suspicion en- 
tertained of any meditated hostility on the part of the city 
authorities, against the General Government is wholly unfound- 
ed, and, with the best means of knowledge, express the confi- 
dent belief and conviction that there is no, organization of any 
kind among the people for such a purpose, f have no doubt 
that the officers of the United States have acted on information 
which they deemed reliable, obtained from our own citizens, 
some of whom may be deluded by their fears, while others are 
actuated by baser motives ; but suspicions thus derived, can, 
in my judgment, form no sufficient justification for what I 
deem to be grave and alarming violations of the rights of in- 
dividual citizens, of the city of Baltimore and of the State of 
Maryland. 

Very respectfully, 

GEO. WM. BROWN, Mayor. 



GEO. M. GILL'S STATEMENT TO THE MAYOR. 



Baltimore, July 12, 1861. 

To the Hon. Geo. Wm. Brown, 

Mayor of the City of Baltimore : 
In your communication to the City Council of yesterday, which 
I did not see until after it was communicated to the Council, 
you refer to the fact that I accompanied you on Friday, April 
19th, to the Camden station. There were some additional cir- 
cumstances which I deem it proper to state. You desired me to 
accompany you, hoping that I might aid in preventing any vio- 
lence on that day, or interruption to the troops then ahout to 
pass through , in case any should be attempted. Your impression 
was that no such attempt would he made, hut nevertheless you 
thought every precaution should be taken, in case of any such 
attempt to resist it. For the sole purpose of doing this I ac- 
companied you. 

After we reached the Camden Station there were manifesta- 
tions of excitement among the crowd there assembled, and the 
Police Commissioners (excepting Mr. Hinks then absent from 
the City) gave directions to Marshal Kane, in my presence, to 
use his whole force in keeping order and protecting the troops 
from being interrupted. The reply of Marshal Kane then made 
was, that if he and his whole force lost their lives the troops 
should be protected. 

After the first of the troops reached Camden Station a rush 
of people was made at the cars in which they then were, but 
the Police interfered and drove them off. A cry was then raised 
to tear up the track outside of the Camden Station, and a rush 
was made to accomplish this purpose, but the Police again in- 
terfered, and prevented this from being done. 



20 



I .supposed for some time that all the troops would pass in 
safety, and such was my anxious wish, and to the extent of my 
ability I united in the effort to produce this result. 

While I was at Camden Station the events on Pratt street 
took place, none of which did I see, and therefore; cannot speak 
of them further than that I saw at a distance, and heard the 
firing of the troops as they passed up Pratt street. 

My impression on that clay was and still is, that the events 
arose from a sudden impulse which seized upon some of our 
people, and that after the firing commenced and blood was shed 
many persons took part, under an impression that the troops 
were killing our people, and without knowing the circumstances 
of provocation which induced the troops to fire. 

Matters reached their height after Mr. Davis was killed, and 
the intense excitement resulting from this and other causes pro- 
duced a state of feeling which for a time was beyond control on 
the part of the City authorities. 

On Sunday, the 21st of April, whilst you were in Washing- 
ton, where you had been summoned by the President , a regi- 
ment arrived from Pennsylvania, but were fortunately stopped 
at Cockeysville, about 14 miles off, by the disabled bridge at 
that point. Any rational man who witnessed the condition of 
things in Baltimore on that day. can judge of the sad con- 
sequences which would have followed if the regiment had en- 
tered the City. 

Yours very respectfully . 

Geo. M. Gill. 



